Was Mourinho crazy?
That was the focus of reports from major media outlets around the world on match day.
No one had expected Mourinho to announce his starting lineup a full day in advance.
Was he crazy?
Or was he deliberately putting up a smokescreen?
No one knew why, but all the major media outlets were busy studying whether the lineup was genuine.
Judging from the names, it did seem quite credible, because they were mostly players Mourinho relied on heavily, such as Seydou Keita and Yaya Touré. Every player who should have started was in the starting lineup.
But there was one problem: they were short of a left-back.
After Abidal began his liver transplant surgery, Adriano had been the left-back Mourinho relied on, but he had not even made the squad for this match. So whom was Mourinho planning to play in that position?
Would Puyol fill in there?
That was indeed possible, because Puyol had played left-back before.
If so, it would make sense to pair Pique and Mascherano in central defense.
Barcelona's defense was strong in some ways, but weak in others. The key was always the kind of opponent they faced.
Su Dong had scored plenty of goals against Barcelona in the past. Now that they were meeting again, everyone was very curious whether Barcelona's defense could actually keep Su Dong under control.
And what exactly was Mourinho's intention in suddenly announcing his starting lineup ahead of the match?
Man City had arrived in Barcelona a full day early.
They had previously borrowed Espanyol's training ground, and the day before they had gone to Camp Nou for a familiarization session.
After a busy stretch, they had rested for one night. When they woke the next day, they were greeted by this bombshell of